Advice on buying a towing dolly/equipment

colino

OP, what do you want to tow and how often? I suspect many A frames and their ilk are quickly sold off (at a loss) after infrequent use or lie rusting in busy workshops because of their instability and lack of use for modern cars. Look how low most recent cars are at the front with plenty of bumper and trims to rip off at great expense.
Either hire in a man with a wagon or hire a full sized car trailer (with the weight issues it has for most tow cars) and save your pennies.

Nodding_Donkey

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

From the information you provided in the first post about your planned usage, you need a proper trailer as you are pushing the limits of what you can do with an a-frame or dolly past their breaking point.

That brings its own issues, like how much weight your tow vehicle can tow, maximum gross weight of the trailer when loaded, driving licence requirements if you're a youngster and so on.

Add to this whether you need a tachograph or not.

BeenThroughItAll

knightstyle wrote: »

...when I towed in France I was told the system was illegal there as the towed vehicles brakes were not working when towed...

Which would also, as stated above, make it illegal in the UK unless the vehicle was being recovered after a breakdown.

ratrace

thanks all just spoke to a few people i know they said a trailer is the way to go.:D

forgotmyname

Dont forget to add the weight of the trailer in your max tow figures.

Mankysteve

How do those cars towed behind a motorhome work?

facade

Mankysteve wrote: »

How do those cars towed behind a motorhome work?

The car has to be modifed so the braking system is activated by the motor home.


This can be by an electrical, hydraulic or mechanical connection.

forgotmyname

Lots of them are actually illegally towing the cars. Have any of the addon braking systems been type approved?

Slowly_does_it..

Wiki has a Smart Fortwo weighing 730kg, maximum un-braked trailers are 750kg. (Yes, you have to have a large motorhome to get the full 750kg un-braked trailer weight.)

Edit - see below for further legal implications as to why this is not possible!

Thank you BeenThroughItAll.

Herzlos

Most full-size saloon/estate cars can legally tow 750kg unbraked. I'd assume pretty much any van/motorhome could as well since it's normally 50% of the unladen weight or 750kg, whichever is lower. A quick look on some leasing sites show most Ford Transits are fine.